Low-Budget Horror Guy James Wan to Direct MacGyver Movie

Gotta admit, when I think of potential directors for a big-budget studio “MacGyver” movie, the name James Wan doesn’t exactly leap to the very front. This is, after all, the guy who gave us low-budget (well, in Hollywood terms, anyway) films like “Insidious”, the “Saw” franchise, “Death Sentence”, and “Dead Silence”. I mean, he’s a solid director and everything, but the man to call the shots on an action-adventure franchise known more for its humor and sense of fun while still saving the world from over zealous bad guys? Hmm…

The trades have Wan currently in negotiations with New Line to board the film, which will of course be based on the long-running action-adventure TV series starring Richard Dean Anderson as a troubleshooting operative who can pretty much escape any situation by using everyday items laying about the area. The joke is that give the guy a bubblegum wrapper and some paper clips and he can jerry-rig you a nuke, or some such.

Anderson, of course, has gone on to star in another long-running action-adventure series, fronting the “Stargate” sci-fi franchise, and that’s really what he’s most known for nowadays, since “MacGyver” ran in the ’80s and who remembers the ’80s?

In a way, this is the second time Mac has been brought to the big screen. As you’ll recall, the character was sorta brought to the big screen in “MacGruber”, a 2010 comedy starring Will Forte and based on his “Saturday Night Live” skits that were essentially parodies of “MacGyver”. Hell, Richard Dean Anderson even did a bunch of “MacGyver”-themed ads a few years back. (Check out one of them below.)

Obviously the thought of Anderson returning to star in “MacGyver” the movie would be awesome, but is probably very unlikely. Mind you, not that I don’t think he could still do it. He was fighting aliens and shooting spaceships in “Stargate” well into his ’50s. He’s what now, early ’60s? A “MacGyver” movie with Richard Dean Anderson would be, well, pretty damn fantastic.